I got the idea to make macaron ice cream sandwiches when I ate one on my visit to Milk in Los Angeles. These are oh so perfect for this hot weather and combine two of my favorite desserts. Of course, first I had to make French macarons, which I had no yet attempted.

French macarons has been on my to-do list for quite a while, but I’ve been really intimidated. I’ve read about how difficult how they are to make, how precise everything must be, disaster stories, etc. I tried to read as much as possible about macarons before my first attempt, but the more I read, the more daunting it appeared as my head was full of so many different tips.

My first attempt turned out better than I expected, though obviously I still needed some work. My biggest problem was piping. I don’t have good piping skills to begin with, so this made trying to pipe perfect circles even more difficult. I ended up making quite a mess and having to redo most of my circles. Also, my cookie sheet is a bit smaller than my silpat mat. This is normally not a problem with my cookie dough batter. But with these circles, the fact that the sheets were not perfectly flat caused problems with my piped circles, making them weird shapes. The same problem occurred with parchment paper. I buy the rolls, and so it doesn’t lay perfectly flat.

Well my first attempt wasn’t perfect, at least they came out resembling macaron shells. And since I was planning on making ice cream sandwiches with them, they still worked. I’ve since made macarons again and was much more successful in my second attempt, which I’ll blog about later.

I haven’t really made ice cream sandwiches before. I took a container of pistachio ice cream and let it melt enough so that I could easily scoop it out and spread it to a thin layer on some parchment paper. Then I used a circle cookie cutter and made cuts into the ice cream. I immediately put the circle ice cream cuts in between two macarons and put them in the freezer. If you are stacking the macaron sandwiches, make sure you put parchment paper in between, or else the macaron shells may stick together.

I don’t know if there is an easier way to make ice cream sandwiches. I’ll have to do some research because this process took me a while and it was really messy. A lot of melted ice cream. At one point, BF asked me what I was doing. “Making a mess,” I informed him honestly.

These came out pretty tasty. They did take a while to make. It helps that these freeze well, so you can make a lot at a time and keep them in the freezer.

After two macaron attempts, here are some tips I think are important:

1. Make sure you use a scale to measure out your ingredients. This is something I kept reading about over and over again. You want precise measurements.

2. Age your egg whites. I aged mine for 48 hours at room temperature. When I first read about having to age egg whites, I was a bit taken aback about this, but I was reassured by reading this on other blogs.

2. Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and begin whisking on high, gradually adding the granulated sugar little by little until you form a stiff meringue

3. Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue in two installments. Fold until the ingredients are just mixed in, and you can no longer distinguish meringue from dry ingredients–until there are no noticeable streaks of white or green

Congrats! They look wonderful. Just like the ones at Milk you wrote about. YUM.

Faye — July 20, 2010 at 11:47 am

Wow wow wow. These look unbelievably beautiful and unique (and yummy). It worries me that it’s really complicated to make thou
Why do you age the egg whites – is it safe to leave out for 48 hrs?
I really really want to try this recipe thou – omg – you did such a great job ! Really well done

I got my flour off of amazon. It has become my go-to place when I can’t find something in store. I originally bought some almond flour from Trader Joe’s, but theirs wasn’t ground finely enough in my opinion and had a lot of brown bits from the almond skins. I’ve tried making it myself, but my food processor isn’t that powerful. This JK one is ground very finely and I think the price is pretty good. I think once you succeed, this becomes pretty easy. I can’t wait to make more!

You know the first time it was hard. But after I figured it out, it became a lot easier. The time to make it actually isn’t very long. The longest parts are waiting for egg whites to age or letting the batter sit around before baking. But the other steps are pretty quick, (especially once you learn how to pipe)
As for the aged egg whites, apparently aging them changes them. I don’t know too much about it, except that it appears to be key to having pretty puffed up macarons. It should be safe. I’ve been assured by many food bloggers and pastry chefs per their websites.
I think you should try it out. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not that time consuming at all. I plan on making many more. =)

Looks great, Kirbir! From what little I know, aging the egg whites is suppose to reduce the moisture, which will create a better macaroon, less weeping. Also egg white are suppose to have some natural antibacterial power so leaving it out for 48 hours shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll have to make some macaroons once my schedule lightens up.

Hi Carol! I haven’t heard from you in a while. Was just wondering about you. Hope your schedule lightens up soon. Interesting tidbit on the eggs. I’ve seen recipes allowing the aging of the whites in the fridge too, but most of the recipes I came across said 24-48 hours at room temp.